Manufacture of seamless hosiery.



PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

B. E. KILBOURN. MANUFAGTURE 0F SEAMLESS HOSIERY.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.0, 1903.

W Mm, nu www. W i: M m W mmm y C Y M M I n fr. mmmw d o l l l l Illllllllllll IIIIIIII n l \\\\l|| I l l I 'I 45 the leg of-thfe stockingon the back aswell as f NITED .STATES PATENT oEEioE.

EDWARD E. KiLEoURN, E NEW BRUNSWIQK, NEW JERSEY, AssicNoE To THEKiLBoUE'NkNITTiNG MACHINE COMPANY.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it :known that'I, EDWARD E. KILBOURN, a citizen of the UnitedfStates, residing at New Brunswick, in the county of Middlesex and Stateof New' Jersey, have invented certain new` and useful Improvements `inthe Manufacture of Seamless Hosiery; and I do hereby declage thefollowing to be la full,-

scribed provided withdrop-stitch 'ornamening novel results.

tation applied in a'novel-manner and produc- In the drawings .Ihaveshownafstocking embodying my present invention, and 'my saidinvention isdisclosed in the following description and.v claims. .YFigure l is a view of. a stocking embodying my said improvements. Fig. 2is-I-an en-f larged'vview of a portion of the stocking at the point ofcasting off of stitches.` IFig. 3 is a view of a half-hose embodying myinven tion.

In the'drawin'gs, A indicates the leg, and B the -foot, of the stocking.The stocking is made with a plain welt or hem wat the top ofgp vof thestocking, or the plain knittingy may be the leg. Immediately below thehem in this instance certain of the needles are caused to ceaseknitting, making openwork spaces c c c, the. thread in such s acesextending directly across a space as wlde as that occupied by a singlestitch of plain knitting or wider. Aitl the point a all of the needlesare again operated to make plain knitting, andv at thepoint a.2 thesameneedles are a ain caused to cease knitting and the drop-stitch.open-work is again produced.'v

The open-work, vas shown, extends around on the front. The needles whichcease knitting. to form the' open-work at the back of the leg are throwninto operation for plain knitting at the oint a3 above the heel of thestockin an 'the needles which cease knitting to Torm the open-work uponthe front of the le of the stocking are caused to resume plain itting atsome point, as b, above the Specification of -Letters Patent.

i Applioaticn filed January 30,1903. Serial No. 141,129.

WiNuFAcauns oF SEAMLSS HosaEr-w.

Patented April 23, 1907.

toe. The stocking therefore has the openwork all around the leg and hasplain-knittedv portions above the drop-stitch openwork and plainknittingbetween the open- .work and the toe.

The stocking has also the heel, bottom of the'ioot, and the toe knittedin plain stitches. y

When the needles are thrown out of or `changed in operation so as to-produce the open-werk, they drop or cast off their stitches or loops.In case this is done immediately below the hem or welt the hem or weltwill prevent the dropped stitches from above. In case, however, theseneedles are so changed at a point a distance below the welt or hem-forexample, at the point a2 in the vdrawingsthe vloops or stitches so castoli must be secured in some way. They may be secured by crocheting, by aline of stitching,

or by causing a number of needles closely adjacent to the drop-stitchneedles to knit one or'more tuck'stitches beforethe drop-stitch needlescast oli, as shown at c,Fig. 2. This is the preferred manner of securingsuch loop or stitches at such places, and this dropping and securing ofthe stitches may take place at anyl point of the stocking desired.

t will be evident that the pattern illustrated may be very considerablyvaried without departing from the spirit of my invention. ldor example,several bands of lain knitting may be formed around the leg.

.continuous from the top down to a desired point and the remainder ofthe 'leg of the machine may be operated to form bands of open-work atintervalsA down the leg ofthe stocking.

In Fig. 2 I have shown the tuck-stitches c as made on each' side ofthedropped stitches and for two courses receding the dropping of suchstitches.y This is the mode I prefer; but `the tuck-stitches may be in alarger number of courses or may be in a sin le course only. While Irefer to have t e tuck-stitches onI each side of the dropped stitches,it will-.not be necessary in allcases, as a tuck-stitch at one side willwith some kinds of thread or yarn befound suiiicient.

In making half-hose I prefer to knit plain knitting for a short distancebelow'the ribbed top and thereafter begin the drop-stitch work.

raveling or opening out to the plain knitting 9o stocking knit with theopen-work, or the i l In Fig. 3 the dotted line d indicates the line ofjoining the ribbed top tothe to of the; leg of the stocking, and dtheoint o lbeginning thedrop-stitc-h work. 2 indicates the point atWhichthe drop-stitch Work ceases on the back of the stocking. The pointat which the' dro -stitch Work is discontinued on the top of t e foot ofthe stocking would be about the` same as that on the full hose shown. v

If may accomplish the Work desired by having separate cam-grooves,dividing the lneedles' betWeentthe grooves, and then controlling thecams of each class of needles to producev the Work'desired, orA I mayaccomplish this by using needles having nibs of operating-cams.

the beginning of the open-Work, substantially as described.

2. A machine-knit seamless stocking having drop-stitch open-workaroundthe leg of the stocking with solid plain knitting above thedrop-stitch Work andtuck-stitches securing the drop-stitch Work,substantially as describedwl 3. A machine-knit seamless stockinghavingdrop-'stitch open-Work around the leg of the stocking, at the backas Well as the front of the leg of the stocking, with solid plainknitting above the drop-stitch Work, and tuck-stitches securin thedrop-stitch Work,

the thread forming t e le being continuous with the thread forming t emain portion of the foot' of the stocking, substantially as described. i

4. A machine-knit seamless stocking, hav-l ing drop-stitch open-Workupon the leg of 'the stocking, with solid plain knitting above saidopen-Work,y the dropped stitches pre- -ceding the open-Work beingsecured, substantially as described.

5. A machine-knit seamless stocking7 having drop-stitch open-Work aroundthe leg of the stocking at the back as Well as the front of thestocking, With solid plain knitting preceding the drop-stitch Work, thedropped stitches preceding the open-work being secured7 substantial lyas described.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature v in the presence of twowitnesses.

E. E. KILBOURN.`

Witnesses:

RoBr. G. MILLER, G. H. WHITAK-ER.

